Public Enemy #1

I managed to avoid any one on one encounters with Brody or Alex for the rest of the night.  I plunked myself down between Kinsley and Lauren when we went out for a fire.  I went in to use the bathroom, and when I came out, Lauren was waiting in our room.  "So..." she said conspiratorially, "I overheard Alex telling Kevin that he 'interrupted something' when he went to talk to Brody about the matches."

I snorted derisively as I flopped on the bed.  "That's not quite right.  More accurate would be that he prevented something."

"Ok, and?" Lauren asked, looking a little irritated at having to drag it out of me.  "Prevented something like what?"

So I told her the whole story.  And that I was reasonably certain that given 30 more seconds, Alex would have interrupted something.  That I was pretty sure even Brody didn't run around petting girls he wasn't about to kiss.  But that I was a little confused at the ease in which Brody had walked away.

"Liv, he didn't have a choice!" she exclaimed.  "Alex was standing there, staring you guys down.  Does Brody know that Alex asked you out?"

"I guess I don't know.  Do guys talk about that stuff like girls do?  Probably not."  The words were coming out rapid fire now.  "He might not know.  But I guess he might.  I have no idea.  Do you think he knows?  Does it matter if he knows?  Do you think--"

"Olivia, get a grip," Lauren broke in.

I stopped and took a deep breath.  "Lauren, I like him.  And it's insane, because I've known him for about 5 seconds.  And, I mean, I know about his reputation for casual sex and I have no idea if that's what he wants or if he likes me, or if people are just really, really friendly where he comes from.  I actually don't even know where he comes from to even hazard a guess!"

Lauren tried to hide her laugh, but couldn't.  "Liv, I'm pretty sure that if he just wanted to bang you, he'd have made a move a long time ago.  And I don't think people are just that friendly anywhere.  Unless it's suddenly the 70s again."

At that, I laughed too.  "You're right.  And I'm ridiculous.  I just hate the not knowing for sure."

"So talk to him.  It's actually not all that hard."

"Easy for you to say.  Your face doesn't turn into a tomato the second you're within a 50 foot radius of an attractive male!" I shot back.  She rolled her eyes and patted me on the shoulder before pulling me up and propelling me towards the door.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully.  I was once again up first, and cleaned up the dishes and beer bottles from the night before.  I was back out on the deck with my Kindle when Alex came out.  "Oh!" he said, surprised.  "Um...hey.  I didn't think...I didn't think anyone was out here.  I'm just going to..." he trailed off.  I furrowed my brow as he disappeared back inside.

"Well, that was awkward," I muttered to myself.  This weekend was not going at all how I had planned.

No one else appeared out on the deck for over an hour.  Lauren finally stumbled out, looking confused.   "Good morning, sunshine!" I chirped in an overly cheerful voice.  Sleepy Lauren glared at me, then collapsed in the chair next to me.

"Why are you so cheerful?" she groaned.  "Did you get some last night after all? Or this morning?"

"Sex is not the only reason to be cheerful, Lauren."

"It's the only reason to be cheerful in the morning," she grumbled back.  I just laughed.

Lauren wasn't the only grumpy one in the group that morning.  Savannah, looking like death warmed over, appeared in the kitchen as I was looking for some lunch and more coffee.  She stood in the doorway and stared at me for a second before quickly grabbing some water and leaving.  "What the hell?" I said to Lauren.  "When did I become public enemy #1?"  Between Alex, Lauren's non-morning-person persona, and Savannah's dagger glares, I'd had about enough for the day.  I put my K-cup back in the drawer and headed to the room for a nap instead.

I must have been more tired than I thought, because I was woken up almost 3 hours later by Kinsley sitting on the edge of my bed bouncing up and down.  "Get up and shower, sleeping beauty!  We're going to town this evening for some dinner and a townie bar!" 

"What time is it?" I groaned, feeling a bit like Lauren in the morning.

"It's almost 4.  We want to leave around 6.  I figured you'd need some time to wake up so you get the first shower.  Go!"

I dragged myself out of bed and got ready.  I was awake by the time everyone was ready to go.  Kendra said that her headache was gone but she wasn't taking any chances on it coming back, so she offered to drive.  Against better judgment, we all crammed ourselves into Brody's Sequoia.  I slid into the middle row, getting a funny look from Savannah and Kevin.  Too late, I remembered my "car sickness."  Oh well.  Brody slid in next to me. Because of how many people we were fitting in the car, I was sandwiched between the window and him.  Leg to leg, arm to arm.  I'm pretty sure the flipping sensation in my stomach wasn't because of car sickness.

It was a pretty quiet car ride.  Dinner was uneventful, and we walked to a bar down the street from the small restaurant.  We walked inside to loud Top 40 pop music playing.   Lauren and I quickly dragged Kinsley onto the dance floor.  She protested, stating that the music was awful.

"It IS awful," I agreed.  "But that's half the fun!"  She rolled her eyes but joined in.  After a couple songs, Lauren elbowed me, and then said in my ear "Don't look, but Savannah is practically in Brody's lap."  I waited a full minute before pivoting carefully to look.  She was as close as she could be without being on top of him, with one arm wrapped around his back, and her legs crossed so one of her calves fell between his.

"So?" I asked.  "Nothing I can do about it."  I wished I felt as nonchalant as I sounded.  But I never wanted to be that girl, throwing myself at the guy that wasn't interested.  It was bad enough he made me feel the way I do.

Lauren shrugged, and we danced a few more songs before heading to the bar to get fresh drinks.  We walked back towards the two tables the rest of the group had commandeered.  Savannah was now nowhere to be found.  I sat down in the seat she had vacated, after moving it a respectable 6 inches to the left.

Brody grinned at me.  "Looks like you guys are having fun," he said.

"We are.  There's nothing quite like dancing like fools to awful pop music!" I responded genuinely.  He laughed.  I took a deep breath, then said, "You should come dance like a fool to awful music with me."  His smile faltered for just a second and then he laughed again.

"I don't dance.  Trust me, no one wants to see that."  Well, I did, but I guess no one asked me.

"If you're not going to dance with her, I will," Kevin said, from the other side of Brody.  I didn't really want to dance with Kevin, but I did want to dance with someone, and at least Kevin was cute.

Brody gave him a look that I couldn't decipher, and then said, "Now this I have to see."  Kevin laughed, stood, and pulled me to my feet.   I saw Kinsley coaxing Alex out onto the dance floor too.

We danced a few more songs before I sagged against Kevin.  "I need a break," I said.  "I think I might step outside."

"May I join you?" Kevin asked.  I didn't know what to make of that, but shrugged and motioned for him to follow me.

We walked outside and leaned against the facade of the building.  Kevin looked across the street for a few seconds, then turned to me.  "You know," he said, "I've known Brody for a long time.  He grew up here.  We stayed in touch when he moved to Seattle and then Miami.  We've been friends since we were 6."

"Oh," I said, curious to where he was going with this.

"And sometimes, he's a really big idiot."

"Oh," I said again.  What am I supposed to say to that?  Kevin was looking at me.  He obviously was wanting me to pick up on what he was saying, but I had no idea.  He was an idiot for almost kissing me?  An idiot for not kissing me?  An idiot for a completely different reason?  "I'm sorry," I said, shaking my head.  "You're going to have to pretend I'm the idiot and spell it out for me."

He chuckled.  "Sorry, I guess I'm being a little cryptic.  Brody likes you.  But he doesn't know how to read you.  Throw him a bone, ok?"  My stomach was flipping again.  I was excited, and also surprised that Brody might lack the confidence to just make a real move without knowing how I'd react.  He didn't seem the type to be shy.

"Thanks for telling me.  To be honest, I don't know how to read him either.  So this was good."

Kevin smiled at me and grabbed my hand, pulling me up.  We started back in as Lauren was coming out.

"Hey!  Kendra is ready to go.  It's almost 1, can you believe it?  Anyway, she sent me to find you."

We all squished back into the car.  Unfortunately, I didn't end up next to Brody this time.  My nap earlier combined with the alcohol made me drowsy.  I barely kept my eyes open long enough to brush my teeth and change into pajamas when we got back.